In general, as a recording medium often used by electronic equipment such as a personal computer (PC) having an information processing function, a semiconductor recording medium, magnetic recording medium, a magneto-optical storage medium or the like which holds information therein is used. Digital data to be recorded and accumulated in such a recording medium is not limited to text data consisting of characters, but also includes still images of a digital still camera and voice data and large-volume moving images sent from a digital video camera.
As equipment that records and stores TV broadcast programs and the like, a video tape recorder (VTR) which uses a video tape as a recording medium is popular. Recently, a recording scheme that uses a rotary magneto-optical storage medium such as a so-called DVD has become available. As a recording medium to be used in equipment of this type, a hard disk drive (to be referred to as a HDD hereinafter) which uses one type of magnetic recording medium attracts attention. This is because the HDD has a faster access speed, a lower recording bit unit price, and a larger recording capacity than those of other schemes. Currently, equipment has appeared which incorporates a HDD having a several ten gigabyte-class recording capacity so that it can record a comparatively long broadcast while having a function that cannot be conventionally obtained.
When the volume of data to be recorded increases, if the recording medium is stationarily incorporated in the equipment and cannot be replaced easily, the capacity becomes short, and new data cannot be additionally recorded unless overwriting it on the recorded data. Particularly, with a recording method in which a process such as MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) compression is not performed, the problem of the short capacity of the recording medium is obvious.
In order to cope with this problem, an electronic device such as a removable HDD that can be mounted in and removed from the electronic equipment main body easily has been proposed. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-291382 discloses an HDD that can be mounted and removed easily by an end user. According to this disclosure, a connecting connector is arranged at the front end of the HDD to be inserted in an electronic equipment main body. Guide grooves are formed in the side surfaces of the HDD in the inserting direction, so that the mounting/removing operability is improved.
With the HDD of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-291382, however, when the HDD is removed from the electronic equipment main body, its connector serving as the interface exposes. Then, the HDD becomes unguarded against dust or static electricity accumulated in the human body, or a metal piece or the like may accidentally come into contact with the connector to damage the electronic circuit in the HDD. In particular, with a removable HDD incorporating a small HDD, since it is often removed and carried around because of its excellent portability, the problem described above is more obvious.
In view of these problems, generally, countermeasures have been often taken, as shown in FIG. 13 e.g., an opening/closing lid 11 is provided at the front surface of an interface connector packaged in an electronic equipment main body or a removable electronic device. The opening/closing lid 11 is arranged to oppose an opening in which a connector 13 is to be inserted, and is biased in a closed state by a spring (not shown) or the like. When the connector 13 is inserted in the opening, the opening/closing lid 11 is pushed open against the spring, so that the connector 13 is connected to a connector 12.
If the lid opens toward the interior of the electronic equipment main body or electronic device, the connector 12 arranged inside the electronic equipment main body or electronic device cannot be packaged within the pivot range of the opening/closing lid 11, but must be arranged at a position where it does not interfere with the opening/closing lid 11. Accordingly, the outer shape of the electronic device increases. This is disadvantageous in equipment whose portability is the primary concern. Also, the fitting length of the connection-side connector 13 inevitably becomes large. In connection of equipments that perform high-speed serial transmission with a transmission frequency of several gigabits/sec to several ten gigabits/sec, not only the signal transmission energy loss increases, but also the impedance mismatch tends to easily occur, and ambient noise tends to be picked up easily to increase the jitter. As a result, high-speed signal transmission suffers.
As a prior art, FIG. 14 shows a scheme disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-008010. According to this scheme, a tapered portion is formed on the distal end of a connector 15 which is to be connected to a connector 14. Shutters 16 are arranged at the opening of a cabinet (electronic device) and open and close perpendicularly to the inserting direction of the connector 15. The shutters 16 are biased by springs 17 in closing directions. To connect the connectors 14 and 15 to each other, the shutters 16 provided to the cabinet are pushed away to slide, by the tapered portion of the connector 15, in directions perpendicular to the inserting direction. This structure is excellent in high-speed data transfer, because the displacement of the shutters 16 does not adversely affect the length of the connector inserting portion. However, a component of force perpendicular to the inserting force is generated by the tapered portion of the connector 15 and opens the slide shutters 16. Thus, slide friction acts, and the perpendicular component of force acts to open the shutters 16 against the biasing springs 17. Therefore, a larger opening force is required than with an ordinary connector.
The shutters 16 that open and close in the directions perpendicular to the connector inserting direction require storing spaces when the shutters are to be moved, and a structure in which the biasing springs and movement guide portions serving as slide guides are arranged, in the vicinity of the opening. If the structure as shown in FIG. 14 is employed in portable equipment or the like, the portable equipment becomes very thick in a direction perpendicular to the inserting/mounting direction, and the portability suffers. When identical shutter structures must be arranged vertically adjacent to each other in a multiple of levels, an unwanted space further increases, and the whole equipment cannot but become large. Even if the mating portion of the shutters has an introducing guide shape, the entire region of the distal end of the tapered portion must be precisely aligned with the mating portion of the closed shutters. Thus, the larger the number of connection terminals, the higher the required alignment accuracy. The resultant structure becomes very difficult to open and close, which is not practical.